Danny DeVito says he and Rhea Perlman are best friends as they live apart

Although the two live in separate homes, Danny DeVito says he and wife Rhea Perlman remain “best friends.”

“We don’t live together anymore. He lives nearby,” the “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” comedian told Fox News Digital in a recent interview.

She added, “We’re really good, we’re best friends and always have been from the beginning.”

The 81-year-old said he and Perlman loved to talk about their passions, especially movies and acting.

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“And we talk, we love movies. You know, we love acting,” he said. “We love talking about it. We read plays all the time. We’ve always kept that alive among kids with the movie business.”

DeVito and Perlman married in 1982 and have three adult children: Lucy, 43, Grace, 41, and Jake, 38.

He explained that both Lucy and Jake worked in the business and that Grace was “a great painter.”

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“But Lucy is an actress. He is starring in the new movie called ‘Drag’, which we recently produced. [winter] …And we did this with my son Jake, who is a producer. Lucy also produces, but she’s also involved. “So the whole family is kind of like, we’re all in the hum of the oil paint, the smell of the crowd, or vice versa,” he joked.

And DeVito is celebrating the 30th anniversary of one of his classic films with “Matilda in Concert,” which the actor began producing in 2017 and will take place in three locations this year: Cleveland, San Francisco and London.

Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman with their daughter Lucy in 2022. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP)

DeVito explained that 1996’s “Matilda,” in which he produced, directed and starred, “was one of my favorite movies to make because it had all the kids in it.”

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He added: “There was a lot of ice cream, there were a lot of tea parties and there were a lot of people who liked to play games and there were a lot of clowns around. I love clowning around,” he emphasized, “So I had a built-in audience there.”

The “Jumanji: The Next Level” star said he first discovered the book while reading to his children in the early ’90s.

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““And so we read it,” he said, “and it was amazing. And Rhea and I said: First of all, these are great pieces for us. They’re amazing.”

“We had a great time and Rhea had a really good time,” he said. “Rhea and I always have a good time working together. “We’ve done a lot of things together: ‘Taxi’ and short films, we produce things together, and we worked together at NYU, years ago, in the 1970s or something.”

Danny DeVito as Harry Wormwood in “Matilda.” (Getty)

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DeVito and Perlman played Matilda’s “crazy” parents, Harry and Zinnia Wormwood.

Of “Matilda in Concert,” he said: “They do this thing where they take the philharmonic and we take out the sound and the music, we leave out the dialogue, the sound effects, and you just take out the music and play it with a live orchestra. And the best part about it is I get to narrate the movie.”

“Rhea and I always have a good time working together.”

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DeVito not only narrates, but also recreates the character of Mr. Wormwood with the used car salesman’s bowler hat.

Rhea Perlman and Danny DeVito together in 2023. (Bruce Glikas/WireImage)

“I always take something away from a movie,” he explained. “I’m wearing it [at ‘Matilda in Concert’] and I go out and I have some kind of wild jacket, I wear an orange shirt or something, I put on a tie and I do that thing.”

DeVito said he has performed with orchestras from places like Texas and Toronto in the past, and this year he performed with the Cleveland Orchestra on June 3, with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra on July 25 and 26, and with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra on October 30 at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

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Composer David Newman, who wrote the music for “Matilda”, directs the evenings.

As he enters his 80s, DeVito says his philosophy is “Always be in love. You know you love yourself, right? You have to love yourself and you have to love the people around you too. So that’s a good enough love. It’s a good love.”

He explained: “It doesn’t have to be romantic love. It doesn’t have to be all the time, you know, you have a girlfriend or a boyfriend… It doesn’t have to be that way. It can just be loving other people and loving yourself. And think about them. This circle doesn’t have to be large. You don’t have to be someone who embraces the whole world. You can be someone who embraces you.” your the whole world.”

Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman, seen here in 1993, were married in 1982. (Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images)

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Devito added that he is now “more conscious” about taking care of himself as he gets older because he “wants to be around” his two little grandchildren, Sinclair, who is 3, and Carmine, who turns 2 in July.

“So I’m going to stay healthy because I want to see what these two characters do,” he smiled.

He said they all lived about 15 minutes away from him. “So I can see them all the time, which is great.“

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“If “I’m working, I left early because they’re on schedule,” he explained. “Like the other night, we all went to dinner and they like to eat at five o’clock.”

He said he usually starts working around 9 or 10 a.m. and doesn’t mind working late, “but on a night like this, at 4:30, I’m in the car, I go there, I have a nice dinner with Carmine. Drool around, make faces. Always open your mouth when you eat. You know what I mean? He likes it. So maybe the parents don’t like it so much, but you know what? I’m a grandpa.”

DeVito is also adamant that he will never quit.

Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman with Mara Wilson in the 1996 movie “Matilda.” (Getty)

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“I wasn’t going to retire. No. You’re stuck with me,” he joked. DeVito is currently filming the 18th season of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and his new movie “Jumanji: Open World” is out this Christmas, and he’s said he wants to continue doing things like “Matilda in Concert” and even Broadway.

“My fans have been with me since Louie De Palma, even Martini [from ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’] “As far as Frank, you know, Reynolds,” he said, adding that fans even approached him after seeing him and told him they wanted a Jersey Mike’s sandwich. DeVito became a spokesperson for the sandwich chain in 2022.

And he said many of his young fans “dig” “Matilda” all these years later.

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DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger are also planning a new project together.

“We really loved working together on ‘Twins’ and ‘Junior’ and became good friends,” he said. “We were dying to do something together, and now that you’re getting older, you’re like, ‘Come on, man.’ We should find something to do together. “I will manage.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito in a scene from the 1988 movie “Gemini”. (Universal/Getty Images)

He said that they planned to make “Triplets” as a sequel to “Twins”, but director Ivan Reitman died before they could do it.

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“Ivan Reitman was a gem,” he said. “Ivan Reitman was a beautiful man.”

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But he said he and Schwarzenegger are actively trying to make a movie.

““I don’t know what it is yet, but you’ll find out when we find it,” he promised, “because…Arnold and I can’t keep our mouths shut, so we’ll just chatter about it.”

When talking about his career, DeVito recalled a time when he auditioned for a play called “Elephant Steps” at the Public Theater in New York in front of Richard Foreman, whom he called “the crazy director.”

““I also knew the casting director, he would always call me in for some work,” he explained. “I told him: ‘Open the door and step back before you let me in and introduce me to Richard Foreman.’ Right? And he said, ‘What are you going to do, Danny?’ he said. “I said, ‘Just do this, please’.”

Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman at a charity event last year. (Paul Archuleta/Getty Images)

DeVito said he was preparing a monologue and when the casting director opened the door, “I laid down on the floor and walked in. I said my monologue and I didn’t know where I was because I was walking in and found myself pretty close to the table where the director was sitting.”

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“I was looking up and he was there somewhere and my head was spinning, but I was on the road singing my lines to the audition,” he continued.

After finally standing up, Foreman said: “Like, ‘Thank you very much, later,’ you know, that kind of thing. So I might have ruined this.”

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DeVito said he feels good about getting older, too.

“I like it, I like it, it’s kind of cool,” said the “Taxi” alum, who turns 82 in November. “It’s really interesting. It’s nice. I mean, it happens without you doing anything. You know, you get older and it’s nice, you don’t really have to think about it.”

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But he said, “You’ve got to exercise. You’ve got to keep your mind working. You know, I drink a lot of green, green juice, it’s very, very important, right? Hanging around a lot… Keep your friends, always talk to your friends. Keep talking to people, meet new people, try new things.”

“I won’t jump out of a plane. Promise. The only thing I don’t want to do is no. And you know, I don’t think I want to go on a submarine either. I don’t think I want to get shot in space either. I love it, it’s really nice to sit in the garden. Sitting in the sun… And eat well, try to think about the intestines, because the intestines are really important, you know? Gut health, try, you know, do that kind of thing if you want. You can, you know, and you’ll always be in love.”